The present technology relates to separating components, such as red blood cells, from a mixture (such as a suspension), and particularly to separating a selected target component in a high concentration and purity using acoustic waves, such as bulk acoustic waves.
Blood transfusions are used to treat many disorders and injuries, such as in the treatment of accident victims and during surgical procedures. According to current American Red Cross statistics, about 5 million people receive blood transfusions each year, in the United States, alone. Thus, health care systems rely on the collection and distribution of blood. Typically, blood is obtained from a donor and then processed and stored; units of stored blood or blood products are then taken from storage as needed and transfused into a patient in need. In some cases, the blood may be an autologous donation, where an individual donates blood in expectation of receiving his or her own blood by transfusion during a medical procedure.
Donated blood is typically processed into components and then placed in storage until needed. When a subject is in need of a blood transfusion, a Unit of blood is commonly removed from storage, washed, and resuspended in an appropriate solution. The blood may also be treated with a red blood cell enhancement composition, to rejuvenate or improve aspects of red blood cell functionality, such as oxygen delivery capacity, that may be decreased during storage. In some instances, the red blood cells are lyophilized prior to storage, in which case they need to be resuspended, washed, and then resuspended again in an appropriate solution. The resuspended red blood cells are then transfused into the subject. In either scenario, washing the red blood cells is traditionally a tedious, time consuming and multistep process that requires a great deal of tubing, and the use of expensive centrifuges with rotating seals to separate the cells from the wash solution. Therefore, there remains a need to streamline and simplify the process for washing red blood cells prior to transfusion.